BURIED TOGETHER

Partner Dr. Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter

Queer Places:
Bleichstraße 60, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Hochstraße 40, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Roedersteinweg 2, 65719 Hofheim am Taunus, Germany
Waldfriedhof Hofheim am Taunus, Vincenzstraße, 65719 Hofheim am Taunus, Germany

Ottilie Wilhelmine Roederstein (April 22, 1859 – November 26, 1937) was a prominent German-Swiss painter born in Zürich, Switzerland, on April 22, 1859. Growing up, her aspiration to become an artist faced strong opposition from her social background and particularly her mother, though she eventually secured her father's permission to take initial drawing lessons locally with Eduard Pfyffer in 1876. She later moved to Berlin to live with her sister and studied under portrait painter Carl Gussow in a special women's class. In 1882, she relocated to Paris, where she trained at the studios of Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques Henner, quickly establishing her independence and ability to support herself through her art by 1887. Roederstein achieved notable early success, exhibiting at the Paris Salon, winning a silver medal at the 1889 Exposition Universelle, and showing her work at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

In 1891, Roederstein moved to Frankfurt am Main, which became her primary artistic base. There, she became a vital figure in the cultural community, maintaining a studio near the Städel Museum—which became the first contemporary museum to acquire a painting by a female artist when it purchased her work Old Woman Reading in 1902—and teaching young women artists. Her versatile artistic output spanned dark-toned portraits, still lifes, religious imagery, nudes, and impressionist or symbolist-inspired compositions, alongside an extensive series of self-portraits that highlighted her self-confidence and nonconformity. In 1909, she and her partner, Dr. Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter, moved into a custom-built villa in Hofheim am Taunus. Seeking a life in the countryside, the pair commissioned the architect Hermann Kopf to build a villa for them in Hofheim am Taunus. They moved into this home, located at Roedersteinweg 2 (historically referred to as "Deschweg"), in 1909, and it served as their primary residence and workspace for the remainder of their lives. Local residents affectionately nicknamed the distinctively designed building "Die Scheuer" (The Barn) due to its architectural style.

Throughout her life, Roederstein remained actively engaged in exhibitions across Europe and earned honors including Swiss citizenship and joint honorary citizenship of Hofheim. She continued painting and exhibiting until 1931, passing away from a heart condition in Hofheim am Taunus on November 26, 1937, amid the mounting pressures and political restrictions of the National Socialist era.

Ottilie Roederstein lived an openly committed, life-long same-sex relationship with Dr. Elisabeth Hermine Winterhalter, a pioneer physician who became one of the first female surgeons in Germany. The couple met in Zürich in 1884 while Winterhalter was undertaking her medical studies, and by 1887 they had become partners. Defying the strict taboos and conventional gender roles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Roederstein and Winterhalter built a shared life together, moving in tandem to Frankfurt in 1891 and later settling into their shared home in Hofheim am Taunus. Their partnership was mutually supportive of each other's trailblazing professional paths in a male-dominated society. Following Roederstein's death in 1937, Winterhalter established a joint philanthropic legacy known as the Roederstein-Winterhalter-Stiftung to support destitute female artists and other causes. Upon Winterhalter's death in 1952, she was buried alongside Roederstein in a joint honorary grave (Ehrengrab) maintained by the community in Hofheim.

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